Integration of multiply web pads



1952 J. F. BARNES INTEGRATION OF MULTIPLY WEB PADS Filed July 31, 1948Patented Nov. 4, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE INTEGRATION OFMULTIPLY WEBPADS James 'F. Barnes, Chicago, Ill.

-Appllcation July 31, 1948,'-Seria'lNo. 41,802

:11 Claims. 1

This invention relates to the integration of mul'ti-ply web pads andmore particularly to the forming of pads for mattresses, cushions, etc.,in which a large number of Web plies of cotton, felt, etc., are unitedpreferably by a resilient structure to a unitary pad or cushion, etc.

An object of the present invention is to provide a process and means forintegrating a p1urality of webs or folded web plies into a unitary padstructure through the use of bonding means engaging the several plies.Yet another Object is to provide a method .of rapidly integrating webbodies folded together in the forming of a pad through the use of aresilient bonding material engaging the Web plies in spaced relation. Astill further object is to provide a process and means for rapidlyforming a pad of web plies through the forming of lines or spots .ofresilient material uniting the several plies in aligned areas of spotsor lines. Other specific objects and advantages will appear as thespecification proceeds.

The invention is illustrated,'in Single embodiments, by the accompanyingdrawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a top plan view of apparatus which may beemployed in the practice of my invention; Fig. 2, a broken top plan viewof a finished pad structure; Fig. 3, a sectional detailed view of aportion of the pad, the view being greatly enlarged; Fig. 4, a brokendetailed sectional view illustrating the application of spots orresilient adhesive to the pad; Fig. 5, a view similar to Fig. 4 butshowing the application of the bonding material to the plies in the formof spray; Fig. 6, a view similarto Fig. 4 but showing'the use of ahollow needle for the application'of bonding material to the webvplies;and Fig. 7,, a sectional view on an enlarged scale of apparatus employedin the application of bonding material to the web plies through the useof a hollow needle.

In the practice of my invention, web material formed of cotton, felt, orany other suitable material, is folded upon a conveyor to form foldedstrips thereon while, by the folding operational apply latex or othersuitable bonding material to the web plies in order to unite the plies.

In the specific illustration given in Fig. 1, l designates a, conveyorbelt adapted to receive the folded plies of material. The belt may becontinuous and carried by rollers driven in the usual manner.

As shown in Fig. 1, continuous webs ll, Ila, Hb, llc, lid and He, arecarried .over the belt [0 transversely thereof and folded back andforth. As the belt advances, the'folded portions occupy substantiallyinclined or oblique "positions upon the belt, as shown best in Fig. l.The folding may be done by hand, operators being stationed along thebelt, but I prefer to employ standard machines which are used for thispurpose. The machines are indicated in Fig. 1 by the numeral [2 andthese deliver near the top forward end thereof continuous webs ofmaterial. An arm l3 carried by pivoted levers i4 is advanced through theactuating levers I5 so as to move the web repeatedly back and forthacross the conveyor to form the folded portions indicated best inFig. 1. Since the web-forming apparatus and the means for folding theweb repeatedly across the width of the conveyor I0 is well known in theart and is commonly employed, a detailed description is believed to beunnecessary.

In the practice of my invention, I provide a manifold pipe l d whichleads from a source of supply such as, for example, a tank I! containinga body of bonding liquid urged into the outlet pipe 16 by compressedair, pistons, or any other suitable means. A spray pipe l8 leads fromthe connection it and extends across the belt l6 and between each of thewebs delivered from the machines [2. The pipes it may be provided ontheir under sides with perforations or spray nozzles or nozzles fordischarging a thin stream or drop of bonding material.

After the webs have been folded upon the conveyor, as shown in Fig. 1, Iprefer to employ a compression roller N which presses the various pliesof folded web upon each other causing the areas of bonding materialdeposited thereon to unite and thus to form continuous bonding lines orthreads extending through the finished pad. Any desired number ofrollers may be employed.

The compacted pad web leaving the rollers may be wound into a roll and.latercut into :the desired lengths or widths for pads employed inmattresses, cushions, etc.

In the illustration given in Fig. 4, the pipe it! is shown equipped withdepending hollow nipples 2!] adapted to discharge tiny drops or lines oflatex or other suitable bonding material upon the web ply II therebelow.

In the structure shown in Fig. 5,, the pipe lBa is provided with spraynozzles 2| which discharge a fan-shaped spray of bonding material uponthe topmost ply H of the web material.

In the structure shown in Fig. '7, the pipe I8!) is mounted for verticalmovement upon an arm 22 pivotally connected to the actuating lever arm23,. The pipe lilb is guided within a slotted tube 24 and is equippedwith a plurality of hollow needles 1:2 5. A flexible tube 26 leads fromthe pipe 18b to a stationary receptacle 2! receiving bonding liquidthrough the pipe 28. A valve stem 29 is urged upwardly by a springagainst an actuating cam 30. The valve stem 29 is pressed downwardly atintervals to control the release of bonding liquid at desired intervalsthrough the flexible conduit 26 and to the pipe Mb The bonding materialis released preferably through the needle 25 as it is being raised toelevated position so as to leave a thread 3| of latex or other suitablebonding material extending through the plies of material, as shown bestin Fig. 7. The belt carrying the plies of material may be operatedintermittently so that movement of the web plies occurs only after thewithdrawal of the needle to elevated position, as shown in Fig. '7. Itwill be understood, however, that the needle structure may be moved, ifdesired, in timed relation with the advancng web, etc.

I have found that particularly good results are obtained by depositingminute drops or a very thin line of latex in a spaced order upon theplies of the web as they are formed and advanced. As illustrated in Fig.3, the deposition of a drop of latex results in the penetrating of theply ll so that the latex drop appears both above the body II andslightly below it. When a similar drop has been applied to the otherplies, it is found that a thread of latex is formed which extendsthrough the entire pad. However, by applying an extremely thin drop orline of bonding material to each ply or a small number of plies, I findthat the pad can be united with a relatively small amount of latex,etc., while at the same time the latex forms a relatively thin thread orweb which does not interfere with the flexibility or softness of thefinished pad.

In Fig. 2, there is shown a finished pad having a cover 32 and the plieswithin the cover are united by tiny threads 33 of latex which extend allthe way through the pad to form a continuous resilient integrating body.The spaced threads illustrated are highly effective as are also thecontinuous thin lines of bonding material which, like the thread, extendthrough the plies from the top to the bottom, forming a thin continuousweb. The line of adhesive is effectively applied by the mechanism shownin Fig. 4 in which the liquid material is fed through outlet nozzlesprovided with minute discharge openings so that a continuous stream isfed therefrom as the web plies are advanced. By the use of air pressureor other suitable means, the bonding lieuid may be fed evenly throughthe tubes and discharged therefrom with no air ad'- rnixtured therewithand with an extremely minute line of liquid being applied to the movingmaterial. As already stated, the conveyor may be moved continuouslywhile using the various bonding material applying means or, if desired,the conveyor may be moved intermittently between the application stages.Any suitable bonding material may be used, such as, for example, latex,liquid rubber compositions, polyvinyl material, and other plastics, etc.I prefer, however, to employ latex, a natural rubber composition, asynthetic rubber composition, or other material which forms a resilientbond which will yield as the pad is compressed while at the same timefirmly uniting the various plies of the pad.

In the specific structure shown in Fig. 4, the pipe l3 may be supportedas a stationary pipe or, if desired, it may be supported for movement tocause the latex to be deposited along waved or zigzag lines. Forexample, the pipe l8 may be connected to the fixed inlet pipe (not shownin this figure) by a resilient tube 40, and a shaft 4| leading to aneccentric or other driving member may be employed for moving the member[8 back and forth in a longitudinal direction. It will be understoodthat any suitable means may be provided for reciprocating the pipe 18 ina longitudinal plane to give the desired zigzag or waved flow lines. Anumber of pipes I8 may be provided so thatthe waved lines formed by oneof the pipes overlap or intersect the waved lines of another pipe I8thus forming diamondshaped or overlapping lines which thus strengthenthe connections between the webs.

In addition to supporting the pipes l 8 over the webs after they areoverlapped, the pipes I 8 and the other pipes, 18,,18 and I8 may besupported directly over the web formers or machines I2. In

' other words, the webs may be sprayed or provided with lines of drops,etc. of latex or other bonding material before they are formed in theoverlapping zigzag, relation described.

While in the foregoing specification, I have set forth specificstructures and steps in considerable detail for the purpose ofillustrating the embodiments of my invention, it will be understood thatsuch details of structure or operation may be varied widely by thoseskilled in the art without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. In a pad-forming process, the steps of positioning a bonding fluid ina regular, repeated geometric pattern on each layer of a plurality oflayers of fibrous web material, said bonding fluid being characterizedby setting to a resilient solid, and then matting together a pluralityof said layers with points in the pattern of each layer approximatelyaligned with corresponding points in. the patterns of the other layers,whereby said bonding fluid upon setting provides spaced resilientsupports extending from the upper to the lower of said layers.

2. The process stepsof claim 1 in which said bonding fluid contains aresilient material selected from the groups consisting of natural rubberand synthetic rubber.

3. The process steps of claim 1 in which a sufiicient amount of saidbonding fluid is applied to said web material to penetrate said web andto form a raised design thereon corresponding tov said pattern, wherebysaid layers.

4; The process steps. of claim l in which saidgeometric pattern iscomposed of spaced points.

v5. The process steps of claim 1 in whichsaid;

geometric patternis composed mainlyof spaced lines.

6. The process steps of claim 5 in which said lines composing windinglines.

7. In a pad-forming process, the steps of continuously folding a fibrousweb back and forth upon itself to form a plurality of superposed layerswhile advancing the web with its layers in superposition, applying abonding fluid in a regular, repeated geometric pattern to at least onesurface of each of said layers, said bonding fluid being characterizedby setting to a resilient solid, and then matting together saidsuperposed layers with points in the pattern of each layer approximatelyaligned with corresponding points in the patterns of the other layers,whereby said bonding fluid upon setting provides spaced resilientsupports extending from the upper to the lower of said layers.

said geometric pattern are 8. The process steps of claim 7, in whichsaid bonding fluid is applied by spraying it on the upper surface ofsaid layers.

9. The process steps of claim 7 in which said bonding fluid contains aresilient material selected from the group consiting of natural rubberand synthetic rubber.

10. The process steps of claim '7 in which a sufficient amount of saidbonding fluid is applied to said layers to penetrate said layers and toform a raised design thereon corresponding to said pattern, whereby saidlayers can be matted together in slightly spaced-apart relation.

11. The process steps of claim 7 in which said geometric pattern iscomposed mainly of winding lines.

JAMES F. BARNES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

